How to learn languages for free? This collection features lessons in 48 languages, including Spanish, French, English, Mandarin, Italian, Russian and more. Download audio lessons to your computer or mp3 player and you’re good to go.

Lessons with dialogues, drills, exercises, and narratives will teach you the basics of this language spoken in Ethiopia. Includes samples of speech, explanations of basic language structures, and a variety of practical exercises. Features two textbooks (PDF) and eleven audio lessons (MP3).

From Carnegie Mellon, a mini-course for individuals with no proficiency or extremely limited knowledge of Arabic language and culture who are about to begin study or work in an Arabic-speaking context.

A web-application developed by the University of Cambridge Language Centre for basic level students of Chinese. It focuses on listening and reading skill but it also includes many activities that help learners prepare for speaking and writing. Note that you can also download Intermediate Chinese here.

Designed to give a practical command of spoken standard Chinese with nine situational modules. Each module consists of tapes (MP3), a student textbook (PDF), and a workbook. In addition to the core modules, there is a resource module and eight optional modules.

Offers lessons for beginners and also students at intermediate and advanced levels. In addition to language lessons, Popup Chinese provides annotated short stories, HSK test prep materials and a variety of speaking and listening exercises. They broadcast out of Beijing, and all voice actors speak the standard northern dialect.

A cultural podcast for Chinese learners. Features narratives by native Chinese people read in Mandarin at a slow speed (2~3 characters per second). Topics vary from language, knowledge, tradition and culture to opinions on social phenomena.

Featuring the story of Rebecca, an aspiring singer on a journey across America, Connect With English offers 50 fifteen-minute video programs that will teach English as a second language to high school students, college students and adult learners. Produced by WGBH Boston.

Site promotes the innovative and creative use of film in language learning. All of the lesson plans revolve around the use of video and film to teach English. Recently won a British Council ELTons awards for Innovation in Teacher Resources.

Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. Whether English is your first language or your second language, these grammar, punctuation, style, and business tips will make you a better and more successful writer.

“Tu Ingles” is designed to help Spanish-speakers improve their ear for English. The weekly program features drills of verb conjugation, interviews, advice about idioms, and excerpts of speeches and other recorded spoken material from famous English speakers.

The course has 10 lessons that consist of several parts: a short grammar introduction with explicit explanations (Language School, Grammar); a lesson’s dictionary (Language School, Vocabulary); a phrase set (Language School, Speaking); exercises to develop language usage competence (Language School, Exercises); and a short socio-cultural introduction to the country that is thematically related to the lesson (Information center).

Offers 50 lessons via podcast, each running about 15-20 minutes, which will help students learn conversational Persian for free. Each lesson builds on previous lessons, so to get the most out of the course, start from the beginning. The site also offers affordable premium learning materials.

Easy Persian offers online lessons in listening, speaking, reading, and writing Persian or Farsi as spoken in Iran. In addition to Persian language lessons, the site introduces contemporary Iranian poets with English translations of their poems. You’ll also find free Farsi/Persian software, Persian names with English translations, Farsi writing drills and much more.

Transcripts of the Finnish dialogues with idiomatic English translations plus notes on structural pattern and explanations of essential points of grammar. A variety of exercises with instructions in English.

The course has 10 lessons that consist of several parts: a short grammar introduction with explicit explanations (Language School, Grammar); a lesson’s dictionary (Language School, Vocabulary); a phrase set (Language School, Speaking); exercises to develop language usage competence (Language School, Exercises); and a short socio-cultural introduction to the country that is thematically related to the lesson (Information center).

For listeners with some command of Finnish YLE Radio Finland offers daily broadcasts in “Special Finnish”. The five minute broadcasts cover items of current interest. To ease understanding, we simplify the language and slow down the delivery. Some grammatical forms are not used at all. The level of Finnish used is planned to match the expected ability to understand Finnish shown by persons in Level Two Language Command (ofFinnish) as defined by the Council of Europe.”

A popular free language-learning and crowdsourced text translation platform. As users progress through lessons, they simultaneously help to translate websites and other documents. Check out Duolingo’s iPhone and iPad apps.

The course is designed to enable you to reach conversational proficiency. You learn how to control the French sound system by listening to the tapes and repeating each phrase. The dialogues present natural spoken French in a variety of contexts, such as, greeting people, registering at a hotel, getting a train ticket, and shopping.

The Introduction to French Phonology course provides additional drills for those who wish to sound like a native speaker of the language. The course may be used beneficially at any stage of learning the language.

Designed to familiarize you with situations encountered abroad, and to provide you with the language skills you need to cope effectively with those situations. Includes lessons for metropolitan and sub-Saharan French.

French Canadian site provides resources for language learners and teachers. Includes videos, quizzes, interactive modules, audio-visual presentations, and a wide selection of Canadian programs covering a variety of social and cultural topics.

A web-application developed by the University of Cambridge Language Centre for basic level students of German. It focuses on listening and reading skill but it also includes many activities that help learners prepare for speaking and writing.

German for beginners: Paula and Philipp are Radio D reporters who have several mysterious cases to investigate. Join them as their research takes them across Germany — and learn German along the way! Created by Deutsche Welle.

A popular free language-learning and crowdsourced text translation platform. As users progress through lessons, they simultaneously help to translate websites and other documents. Check out Duolingo’s iPhone and iPad apps.

The text (PDF) and tapes (MP3) present, in a programmed learning style, the structural features and vocabulary contained in the first six units of the FSI German Basic Course. Serves to accelerate the progress of students who subsequently move to the Basic Course.

Learn German phrase by phrase over a course of 20 weeks. Lessons cover all the language you need to know to get by on a visit to a German-speaking country. This series is put together by the same people created the popular series “Coffee Break Spanish.”

One textbook (PDF) and 40 audio lessons (MP3). The Hebrew Basic Course is designed to teach spoken and written modern Hebrew that is the ordinary, informal speech of educated native Israelis. It is not intended as a text for the study of the Old Testament or other Hebrew literature.

21 TV episodes of Icelandic lessons. Each episode deals with daily life and common situations in Iceland. Accompanying every episode is a thorough summary, explaining the subject of the episode. The episodes have Icelandic subtitles, making the dialog easier to follow.

Learn Italian step by step over a course of 20 weeks. Lessons cover all the language you need to know to get by on a visit to a Italian-speaking country. Created by the same people who put together the popular series “Coffee Break Spanish.”

Learn Latin from the ground up. This is a serial course, structured to bring you to a high level of Latin fluency. The pace is slow and unhurried. This course is suitable for all ability levels. Restored Classical Pronunciation.

The course has 10 lessons that consist of several parts: a short grammar introduction with explicit explanations (Language School, Grammar); a lesson’s dictionary (Language School, Vocabulary); a phrase set (Language School, Speaking); exercises to develop language usage competence (Language School, Exercises); and a short socio-cultural introduction to the country that is thematically related to the lesson (Information center).

Learn Maori, the language of New Zealand’s indigenous people. Although these lessons accompany a television programme that is currently running, the essential bits of the episodes are available to be watched right here on this site. The course starts at square 1. Site includes video lessons. Another useful site for learning the grammar can be found here.

The course has 10 lessons that consist of several parts: a short grammar introduction with explicit explanations (Language School, Grammar); a lesson’s dictionary (Language School, Vocabulary); a phrase set (Language School, Speaking); exercises to develop language usage competence (Language School, Exercises); and a short socio-cultural introduction to the country that is thematically related to the lesson (Information center).

The course has 10 lessons that consist of several parts: a short grammar introduction with explicit explanations (Language School, Grammar); a lesson’s dictionary (Language School, Vocabulary); a phrase set (Language School, Speaking); exercises to develop language usage competence (Language School, Exercises); and a short socio-cultural introduction to the country that is thematically related to the lesson (Information center).

This “isn’t a boring Grammar course, it is a real chat on different topics which can be heard in everyday life. It is a chance to listen to the native speakers talking at home, at work, at the shop, at the party, etc.”

A web-application developed by the University of Cambridge Language Centre for basic level students of Russian. Russian Essentials concentrates on basic language, with eight sections covering key spoken and written language.

Self-paced course from University of Arkansas offers a good introduction to Spanish for those who have never studied it before, or a good refresher for those who have. The course focuses almost exclusively on Spanish grammar. If you would like to take a more well-rounded approach to learning Spanish, click here for David Nance’s Spanish textbook, available free for the iPad.

A popular free language-learning and crowdsourced text translation platform. As users progress through lessons, they simultaneously help to translate websites and other documents. Check out Duolingo’s iPhone and iPad apps.

This site is presented as a free medical Spanish immersion, with vocabulary including greetings, history, examination, and everyday speech, all with translation and audio. It is designed to be helpful for a variety of medical personnel. Created by a general surgeon turned Spanish teacher.

Produced by Ben Curtis and Marina Diez, a husband-and-wife team out of Madrid, Spain. Ben is British and Marina is Spanish and they too have built quite a large following for their conversational Spanish lessons, (for beginners, intermediates and advanced students), which promise to teach listeners “real Spanish” the way it is actually spoken every day in Spain.

“No English is spoken here. These lessons are for the Intermediate and Advanced Spanish Speaker who would like to sharpen their Spanish skills. The fine points of the language will be presented and explored through a variety of topics to include; music, history, culture, food.”

These lessons (6,000 in total) are developed for independent learners to provide them with the learning/teaching tools for improving their foreign language skills. Reading and listening lessons are based on authentic materials (articles, TV reports, radio broadcasts, etc.) and consist of 4 to 6 activities. GLOSS offers certificates providing documentation of work accomplished.

This website directory, which is part of the WWW Virtual Library System, features over 2000 carefully selected, annotated links in 37 international affairs categories. The site offers a great way to understand our changing world, but it also includes its own section of language learning resources, and it includes sections dedicated to Spanish, French and German.

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About Us

Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.